Chaos Witch Quelaag

Still riding the high of finally finishing Blighttown from the day before, I lead our raid party into the next boss fight up, with high hopes for us all. We step into the arena and I observe the boss from the bell tower.

“Holy…” Mia trails off, as Quelaag’s beautiful upper human looking half comes into view first.

“She’s kinda pretty…do we have to fight her?” Paige asks shyly, and I stifle a chuckle as I wait for the penny to drop.

Quelaag’s arachnid lower body comes into full view from the shadows, and Mia lets out a surprised noise.

“Oh…” Paige says, her cheeks rapidly reddening in embarrassment.

“Still thirsting?” I ask them both.

“Gemma.” Olivia says, her tone reflecting her amusement, but making it clear what she expects from us all.

“Yep. Olivia, be ready to use your ray form. Quelaag has a lot of attacks that leave behind lava on the ground, so you and Mia will need to draw her to the edges.” I tell the two of them.

“Belle, we’ll be helping them with that. The rest of you, spread out through the arena and keep your distance. The most important thing is making sure we don’t get caught in the lava.” I give the orders.

The huge spider charges towards us, but pauses about halfway towards us.

I know which attack is coming. “Scatter!” I yell, simultaneously using the agility buff from my scream ability to give me a burst of speed.

Quelaag propels herself upwards from all 8 legs, spitting a burst of lava from the mutated spider head.

My party splits up, with everyone scrambling to avoid the sizzling lava on the ground in front of the entrance to the arena.

Mia and Olivia distract Quelaag while the rest of us get out of harm's way.

Belle and I regroup and rush forward, while Mia and Olivia use their aerial advantage to harass the boss, able to bypass the giant spider and attack the humanoid part directly.

Belle charges up an arcane attack, her mana desperate to escape her control, while I prepare a blast of ice.

Quelaag swipes her flaming sword at Mia and Olivia, but the two of them are too nimble in the air for her to be able to hit them.

I give the signal to Belle, and we unleash our attacks simultaneously, the twin blasts of crimson energy and deep blue-white ice making Quelaag stumble somewhat.

The spider head shakes, almost as if clearing it’s brain of fog, because Quelaag draws her humanoid arms in, bending her torso forward.

I recognise the windup. “Get back!” I yell, already sprinting away myself.

But we’re all too slow. A blast of energy erupts from the Chaos Witch in a devastating AOE attack, knocking Mia and Olivia out of the sky.

I damn near trip over my own feet in the process of running away, and the breath is driven out of my body. The magical force she can conjure is astonishing and 700MP is ripped away through Mana Shield.

I suppose I shouldn’t be expecting anything less from a Daughter Of Izalith, and a level 300 boss. I deactivate Mana Shield so I can tank the next attack. She at least doesn't seem capable of one shotting me.

Quelaag is peppered with spells from all sides as we fight back. She bristles in annoyance before scanning for the closest target on the ground to lock onto.

Her eyes fall on Belle, who tripped from the sheer arcane force of the earlier attack, because of how close she was.

The Scarlet Witch dusts herself off as Quelaag charges forwards towards her, raising her sword.

Immediately, Mia, Olivia and I rush in from three different sides, blasting her with a volley of spells to draw her attention.

Quelaag shrugs them off and zeroes in on Belle, slashing with her stupidly long sword, with incredible speed. Belle dives to the side, barely managing to avoid the attack.

I charge up another blast of ice, hoping she’ll be weak to it, taking a few steps back to avoid any immediate attacks.

Mia and Olivia batter and harass the boss with magic attacks of their own, the blasts of wind and the hissing of arcane filling the arena in a cacophony of devastation.

Belle dives and dodges as quickly as she can, to avoid Quelaag's sinister slashes, each trailing fire through the air, threatening to incinerate her with every slice.

A combined attack from Skylar and Paige slams into Quelaag's humanoid body, making her yelp in pain.

Before she can recover, I unleash the blast of ice that I've been charging, the frigid explosion of glacial magic ripping through her body.

A screech echoes around the arena as the huge spider-human hybrid shudders. I clearly managed to do something.

Shaking both her heads, she suddenly launches herself towards me with blistering speed, stabbing her sword through the air with.

I barely have time to react to the sudden attack, but thanks to my agility synergy perk, I start moving faster than I can think. Her attack tracks my movement shockingly well. Her blade pierces through my stomach and my HP drops dangerously from the attack.

I activate Mana Shield once more and back away, while Belle, Olivia and Mia press their assault.

Ivy's healing magic flows through me, the wound in my stomach having healed as soon as Quelaag withdrew her sword.

The Chaos Witch, not giving up that easily on her chosen prey, advances. I suppress a shudder as she bears down on me, her spider legs scuttling over the hard ground with an unpleasant sound.

Hack and slash, cleave and slice, she carves patterns of fire through the air as she tries desperately to cut away my defences.

I'm ready for her attacks by this point though, and with my agility as high as it is, I can barely, barely keep up with her.

In a move of desperation to draw Quelaag's aggression, Olivia lands, switches to her Petradon form and begins charging an attack in tandem with Belle, the mana and crystal together forming a deadly combination.

A boom sounding like a thunderclap shocks through the room as Mia unleashes a shockwave of solid air at the boss.

Quelaag pats the spider head below her, and I sprint around the side of the arachnid body as she sprays the entire area in front of her, bathing it in searing lava.

Olivia and Belle finish winding up their attack, launching their combined might at the boss. The unstable fusion of crystal and ruby red mana blasts Quelaag backwards, sending even the eight legged monstrosity stumbling.

The Daughter of Izalith switches focus to the duo, and charges towards them, shadow, earth and air magic not too far behind her.

I wait for a few more seconds, allowing Ivy to reinvigorate me, watching both my health and mana bars tick back up as Olivia and Belle engage Quelaag again.

The huge legs raise up, stabbing and stomping into the ground, attempting to impale either one of them.

Belle dodges to the side while Olivia grabs one leg and holds it in place, forcing it to the ground and anchoring it in crystal, slowly building up crystal to trap it to the ground.

Belle immediately notices what she's doing, and fires a blast of red mana at Quelaag's human half to distract her.

The distraction works and the boss turns towards Belle, spitting out balls of lava towards her. Belle dives forward to avoid them, raking her blade along the underside of the giant spider's body.

Cracks appear in the ground below Olivia's crystal trap, and Olivia smiles in satisfaction. Paige is using her magic to help secure the trap.

I join in on Belle's effort to distract the Chaos Witch, blasting her with ice magic, pouring as much mana into the attacks as I dare.

The seconds tick by as Paige and Olivia build up the trap, and all the while, Quelaag swipes, stabs and spits lava at Mia, Belle and I.

The three of us trade aggro in unison, pulling back if one of us gets hit, while Skylar and Ivy support us from afar.

Once Olivia is happy with the trap, she steps back and takes a split second to admire their handiwork, before joining in on the melee with the boss, jumping up and smacking her directly across her humanoid face.

Quelaag screeches and slashes at Olivia, but she catches the sword with a shield of crystal and slaps it away, parrying the blow.

She attempts to rear up and slam her front legs down again, but stops as she realises she can’t move her leg from the crystal trap.

Heaving her leg, Quelaag does the best she can to escape from the trap.

Smiling, Olivia leaps forward again and grabs her other leg. Quelaag shrieks, knowing exactly what’s about to happen, but being unable to stop the process.

Belle and I launch ourselves at the Chaos Witch with renewed fervour, aiming to distract her from Olivia and Paige. Mia joins in to help us, and the three of us harass her with attacks from all sides.

Quelaag swats at us, and manages to catch Mia with a stray slash, sending her crashing to the ground. Ivy starts to heal her immediately, and an immediate counterattack from Belle and I stops the boss from trying to finish off Mia.

Before long, Olivia and Paige finish trapping Quelaag’s second leg, effectively trapping her in place.

The boss shrieks and wrenches at her legs, but her efforts are only enough to crack the combined magic of Paige and Olivia.

With the boss trapped in place, Belle and I charge up our final reserves of mana for one attack to hopefully end it all.

Quelaag slashes at us frantically, but by this point, we’re just out of range of her blazing sword.

Noticing this fact, the Chaos Witch draws her arms inwards and bends forward. She knows she’s doomed, but she wants to take as many of us with her as she can.

“Now!” I yell, before Quelaag can finish charging her AOE energy blast.

Belle and I unleash the last of our magic in one powerful explosion each, which rocks the boss to the ground, rendering her remaining legs mostly useless.

As Quelaag desperately tries to stand, her legs unable to muster the strength to lift her huge arachnid body, Olivia walks up to her, her arm forming into a blade of crystal.

“Game over.” Olivia says, slicing the Chaos Witch’s head from her humanoid body. Her body dissolves into a golden dust.